From Nebraska

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Text on Button I AM FROM NEBRASKA
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Large white text on a red background

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This button was most likely worn by the delegation from Nebraska to the Republican National convention in 1969 as well as at the inauguration of Richard Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew in 1969.

Sources

Lori Ferber Collectibles. (2014). I Am From Nebraska - 1969 Inauguration Button. Retrieved from http://www.loriferber.com/i-am-from-nebraska-button.html.

Catalog ID IB0365

Flame Out

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Text on Button FLAME OUT
Image Description

An illustration of a hand holding fire accompanied by red text, both on a yellow background. 

Back Paper / Back Info

Armour Star 
Franks

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Armour and Company was founded in Chicago in 1867 by Philip Danforth Armour. It's success made Chicago a central meat packing location for the country, helping the city grow in prominence.

This button is from the "breezy button" collection from Armour Star meat packing company. The buttons were included as a free gift in every package of Armour franks (hot dogs) during the 1950s. The collection had 24 buttons, each with a catchy, "breezy" slogan.

Sources

Armour Star. (1955, August 14). Collect these...breezy buttons you get one free in every package of new Armour Star franks [Advertisement]. Chicago Daily Tribune, G10.

Armour Star (2013). About us. Armour Star. http://www.armour-star.com/about.asp

Catalog ID AD0182

Enable Jackpot

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Text on Button HIT THE ENABLE JACKPOT
Image Description

Large uppercase black text on a silver background.

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Have info on this button? Contact us here.

Catalog ID IB0160

A Cotton Picken Minute

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Text on Button JUST A COTTON PICKEN MINUTE
Image Description

Black text and text with a red body and black outline on a red background. 

Curl Text JAPAN
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The phrase "cotton-picking," sometimes spelled as "cotton-picken" or "cotton-pickin'" to signify a dialect, is used as an intensifier to describe something that is unpleasant or troublesome or of little value. The idiom arose in the southern U.S. states sometime during the 1700 among slaves. 

Bugs Bunny may have popularized the phrase "Wait just a cotton-picking minute" and fixed it to our language. Here's an example in Bully for Bugs, 1953: "Just a cotton-pickin' minute, this don't look like the Coachella Valley to me!"

Catalog ID IB0369

Be My Valentine

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Text on Button BE MY VALENTINE
Image Description

White bubble text and purple and pink hearts on a red background. 

Curl Text © Fun World Div., Carle Place, N.Y. 11514 MADE IN CHINA
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Saint Valentine's Day, also known as Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is a holiday observed on February 14 each year. It is celebrated in many countries around the world, although it is not an official holiday in most of them. The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In eighteenth-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending hand-written cards.

Sources

Seipel, A. (2011, February 13). The dark origins of Valentine's Day. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133693152/the-dark-origins-of-valentines…

Catalog ID EV0261

Accidents Cause People

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Text on Button ACCIDENTS CAUSE PEOPLE
Image Description

Large blue text on an orange background that looks like an explosion with a red outer edge surrounding the explosion and text.

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“Accidents cause people” is a shortened iteration of the phrase “don’t drink and park – accidents cause people” or “don’t drink and park, accidents in cars cause people.” 

"Don’t drink and park,” derived from the more common “don’t drink and drive,” jokingly suggests that one should avoid intimate behavior while in a parked vehicle. The second part, “accidents cause people” or “accidents in cars cause people,” suggests that accidents are not injuries, per se, but instead unwanted pregnancies. Overall, this phrase is a general warning against having sex while intoxicated. The humor in it is based on the truth that drinking and driving costs lives and the idea that drinking and parking creates lives.

Sources

Innuendo. (n.d.). Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/innuendo

What’s the hidden joke/meaning behind “don’t drink and park – accidents cause people”? (2019, September 23). English Language Leaners. https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/225630/whats-the-hidden-joke-meaning-behind-dont-drink-and-park-accidents-cause-pe

Catalog ID IB0364

Got a Little Something Extra

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Text on Button I've Got a Little Something Extra!
Image Description

An illustration of an abstract face with a sly expression with black text to the left on a yellow background. 

Curl Text ©1978 SWIB INDUSTRIES 4813 KINGSTON LISLE, ILLINOIS 60532 (Suburb of Chicago) Telephone (312) 968-7458
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Have info on this button? Contact us here.

Catalog ID IB0264